The Goblin Warrior (Beneath Sands Book 2) Read online

  The Goblin Warrior

  Emma E Hamm

  Contents

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Thank you

  Copyright

  Copyright © 2016 Emma Hamm

  All rights reserved.

  I thanked my family in the first one, but I’ll always thank them again and again. Thank you mother, father, family, friends for your belief in me. I know I’ve annoyed the lot of you more than enough with my constant prattle about characters that don’t exist and a world that I made up entirely.

  Your thoughts and time will always be appreciated.

  1

  Goblins struggled out of the mouth of the mine. Their skin was streaked with dirt and exhaustion bowed their strong backs. They had been working in the mines after their human slaves had attempted to escape. The humans had not succeeded. What had been an attempt at freedom, had turned into a massacre. Blood had streaked the caves for days afterwards as the goblins removed all traces of rebellion from their home.

  Now, the goblins had to pick up the work without the strong human bodies to swing the axes for them.

  They were not happy about this change. The goblins had used others to complete the back breaking work for many years now. Humans were more capable of manual labor than goblins. They had no curved nails that got in the way. They had no delicate ears that would bleed when the ringing strikes against the stones grew too loud.

  For a goblin, this kind of work was the utmost low. Mining was where they had once come from, but they had evolved past that. They were meant to be artisans now. They spun silk out of spider webs. They decorated their caves with vibrant colors and bright things.

  Goblins were not meant to be returning home with bleeding ears and hands.

  “They cannot keep this up much longer.” an elderly man said to a tall goblin.

  The pair were a strange sight. The curved spine of a pale old human clothed in bright robes standing equally next to a proud warrior covered in furs and leather strappings. An odder pair could not be found beneath the ground, save perhaps the goblin and his wife.

  “I understand that Micah.” The goblin sounded tired as he spoke.

  “You need another raid.” Micah struck his cane hard against the ground. “You should have had another raid the moment the others died.”

  “I am walking on eggshells as it is old man. A raid would be foolish when the relationship between human and goblin is so delicate.”

  He did not see the old man roll his eyes.

  “There is no relationship between human and goblin. The humans don’t know the goblins exist. Unless, of course, you are referring to your wife. I take it she’s still not speaking to you?”

  Ruric ran his fingers through his hair, snagging on a few tangles that had yet to be worked out. Jane usually would tame the snarls from his hair. She would have tamed the snarls that came from him as well. His wife withdrawing from his arms had only made Ruric even more irritable. “Not in the slightest. I am convinced she has turned to stone.”

  He couldn’t blame her that though. The rebellion against the humans had been bloody, and Jane had been in the center of it. Though she refused to admit that she had something to do with it, Ruric knew better.

  The other goblins wanted justice. It didn’t matter who they blamed. Jane had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Whether she had wanted to hurt them or not, she had been a human standing at the root of death and destruction.

  He had thought about the angry words she had thrown at him. Jane had been adamant she hadn’t wanted to hurt anyone. Ruric would admit, he never thought she would have harmed the goblins. Her fascination with their world had borderlined on love. Perhaps he had been projecting his own desire for her to feel those emotions. Whatever fondness his wife had felt, now was certainly swallowed in anger as she realized what he had done to her.

  There had been a tentative truce for a while when Jane had been unaware of what the collar around her throat had meant. She had been meek as she apologized time and again. She continued to insist that she did not have anything to do with the rebellion. The goblins were not as certain that she didn’t. Some even came forward to say that they had seen her in the crowd as Ruric had executed a few of the weaker slaves. Surely that was enough reason for her to set the others free? Ruric didn’t know who to believe.

  Regardless of what she claimed, the skirmish had nearly resulted in both she and Ruric dying and retribution was a large part of their society. Seventeen of their own had died and they were lucky it was not more.

  The goblins were still a little sore when it came to the subject.

  “Ah the enjoyments of having a wife.” Micah said quietly as he stared at the goblins disappearing into the tunnels towards their homes. “I miss it.”

  Ruric shook his head. “I always knew you were insane. I just did not know how much.”

  “It’s a good thing to argue every now and then.” Micah said as they both turned to follow the others. The cave widened as they drew closer to their home. The blue glow at the end of the tunnel grew brighter as the bioluminescent algae that covered the stones were touched. Each goblin that passed the stones left blue streaks as their hands trailed along the walls.

  Micah looked up at the face of the large goblin next to him, and snorted at the disgruntled look he saw there. “It’ll get it out of her system. And of course, I don’t need to mention the rewards when you both forgive each other.”

  “What forgiveness? It’s nearly been a month!” He growled. “Not to mention there is no forgiveness I need from her. She is the one being punished.”

  Micah’s cane thumped against the ground in a soft rhythm. The echo in the tunnel created a soothing rhythm. “Somehow I believe it is you who is feeling the brunt of this punishment. She has every reason to be angry with you.”

  “Even goblins don’t hold grudges this long,” Ruric grumbled in response. “She’s not going to give up any time soon. I have resigned myself to a life of silence.”

  “Oh hush. She’ll come around.” Micah patted the goblin on the shoulder. “You did turn her into the goblin equivalent of a slave. That’s going to smart for a while.”

  “I do not treat her as one!” Ruric’s hands lifted and dropped in annoyance. “I have done everything I can to prove to her that she is not a slave and that nothing has changed between the two of us. Instead she has refused to leave our cave. She throws things whenever I try to touch her, and I still have a bite mark on my shoulder from when I tried to get into our bed. To sleep!”

  Micah watched as the bigger man rubbed his shoulder. “Really Ruric. Her pride was dealt a massive blow when she realized what you had done. She thinks these people hate her. By the way, they still do because you haven’t given them any reason not to. You need to reassure everyone.”

  “Exactly how am I supposed to do that?”

  The other man shrugged in the same infuriating way he always did. “You’re a smart boy. You’ll figure it out.”

  Ruric watched as Micah picked his way away from him. A small globe guided him, but sometimes Ruric thought that the other man knew his way as well as the goblins.

  He knew better than to cast aside Micah’s opinion. There was a point to all his nonsense. Jane had refused to leave
the cave for a while now. He had never seen her like this before. To be fair, he hadn’t known her long enough to say this behavior was not like her.

  Jane was too proud for her own good. That pride was causing trouble for both of them and he was exhausted by it.

  He had to admit that this was partly his fault. He had been the one to label her as a slave. She had been part of their family. A goblin by every right. He had taken all of that away from her because he thought she had tried to help her own people. That was something he understood. Like him, she was a warrior first. Jane seemed to think with her heart before she thought with her head.

  In the heat of the moment, he had been angry with her. Ruric had made decisions he was not proud of, but he had apologized for them. He could have picked a less humiliating punishment but he hadn’t been able to stand the thought of hurting her. At the time, it had been a beating or the chaining.

  He had chosen the chaining. He vividly remembered the violent flash of worry that a beating wouldn’t have been enough for some on the council. He worried they would have called for more. Now he thought that a beating might have made both of them feel better. He could tan her hide for being such an idiot and she could feel as though she had been properly punished.

  The situation was a giant mess that he couldn’t fix easily. But he did know that living through another month of this nonsense was going to be the end of him. He wanted to go back to the soft touches and lingering smiles. Those three weeks of bliss were worth fighting for. They had been happy and not many goblins saw that in their lifetime.

  As Ruric made his way through the archways and ledges that made up the path to his home, he realized how cherished this place was to him. Small goblin boys hung from their ankles on woven bridges, their hands pulling their cheeks into teeth baring grimaces.

  The elderly remained close to the mouth of their caves. Though their bones were aching, they would still sit out and watch those that passed by. All goblins who walked past them would trail hands across their shoulders or leave small gifts at their feet.

  This was a place of kindness. It was never meant to see bloodshed as it had a month ago. The safety of the people here laid heavy upon his shoulders.

  He paused in front of the opening to their cave, steeling himself for the angry woman that lurked in the darkness. She would scream, probably toss something at him, and then she would retreat to the back of the cave.

  His hands itched to hold her. He would have settled just to touch her braid. Any reassurance that he had not shattered everything between them. As much as he loved his people, as much as he respected their customs, he had never wanted to cause a rift between Jane and him. What he felt was certainly love. It burned within his chest and scorched his very soul.

  Sighing, he walked into the cave only to be greeted by silence for the first time in a month.

  Brow arched, he began to search for her. Considering the usual treatment he had returned to, Ruric was prepared for her to jump out at him with a rock in her hand. Jane was anything but inventive. She was all blunt force and anger.

  She wanted to go home more than ever now. The tracks of her tears on her face had proven that to him every day. Jane attempted to hide them from him. Ruric knew her pride stung every time she showed him weakness. He remembered all too well how difficult it was to earn her trust the first time.

  He couldn’t let her go. It would kill him to have her gone from his side, banshee or not.

  The cave was eerily still. Ruric lowered the hand he had raised and for the first time started to worry. She had not left the cave in a very long time. There was all manner of places for her to become lost in. Though they had spent weeks exploring the cave system, it was too dangerous for a human on her own.

  After he checked every corner thoroughly, Ruric ducked out of their home and started down towards the community cave. It was a stretch that she would go there. He doubted Jane was going to be excited to see the other goblins after so many weeks of solitude.

  The congregation of goblins could be heard from hundreds of paces away. The large swell of chatter reached his ears. A smile cracked through the worried expression on his face. Peace after such pain was good to hear.

  There were roughly a hundred goblins in the cave. The tall domed ceiling stretched upwards and blue crystals hung from the top. They glowed softly and stroked the familiar forms of goblins with light. Food had always been a community event, though he had never brought Jane here other than their wedding.

  Swells of laughter rioted through the cave. The scene was hardly ruined by the few goblins who had bandages wrapped around their head or arm. A smile quirked the side of Ruric’s mouth.

  “Ruric!”

  The voices called out to him as he entered the large cave. Clawed hands waved at him to come and sit with them. They were all exhausted. He could see that in the lines on their faces and the dirt smudges on their skins. For some, the work would break them. For others, the work was a justification of physical prowess and power.

  Ruric settled himself down at a table with four goblins. All four were different shapes and sizes that complimented the many strengths of the goblin race.

  “Hello Shusar.”

  They both reached forward to clack nails against each other, a customary hello between the goblins.

  “You are so rarely here after we work in the mines. What brings you today, my brother?”

  The goblins had chosen to continue the work humans had done. The deeper into the mines they could tunnel, the further away they could get if there was an attack. The threat of humans was a constant one.

  Ruric disagreed with this thinking. He would have liked to train more goblins to fight. They had the advantage in these caves. If the humans ever desired to fight, they would not stand a chance. Some of the goblins agreed with him, but the council never would. They were too soft to desire warriors.

  “I’m looking for my wife.” Ruric seated himself down next to the others.

  “Your wife?”

  There were a few startled looks cast towards him. He had expected some of them to be confused. Jane had not yet earned the title of wife back as long as that intricate chain was still around her throat. Ruric did not wish to remove it, not yet.

  “She appears to be missing.”

  Shusar laughed. He was the only other goblin who appeared to give a response. The rest remained frozen or fixed their eyes upon their food. “Ah, so the stone maiden finally came out of her cave? She must look like us by now.”

  “If I had seen her, I would tell you. She hides even from me.” Ruric replied.

  “One would think she fears us.” Another goblin commented. He was a large male from Ruric’s line somewhere in the histories. That could easily be seen in the bulk that made him stand out from the others. Broad shoulders, flat features, and tall, Illyrin was nearly bigger than Ruric.

  “There is much to fear.” Ruric said quietly, leaning forward to steal a piece of fish off of Illyrin’s plate. “We are the creatures their children fear at night.”

  The large goblin snorted. “They do not know that goblins exist at all.”

  Shusar winked at the other goblins. “With good reason. However, I like the idea of nibbling human flesh. Their children must be particularly tasty.”

  Though he was joking, Shusar had every right to feel that way. His son had been killed by one of the humans that had been involved in the rebellion. Curious and intelligent, Shusar’s son had been one of the many to fall by human hands.

  Ruric had brought the boy home and would never forget the raw scream that had erupted from Shusar’s mouth. The boy was one of the rare younglings they had. To lose him had been a blow to the entire community, let alone to his father. He had been the youngest son Shusar created.

  Ruric watched carefully for a change of expression on Shusar’s face. There were few goblins that he felt could potentially cause a problem for Jane. As much as he respected Shusar, the scarred goblin was firmly on that list.

/>   There was a resounding thump as Illyrin’s knife sank into the table close to Ruric’s hand which had snuck closer to the fish on his plate. “Get your own food, goblin.”

  A feral grin was Ruric’s response. “Why get my own when I could take yours?”

  “Children.” Both large goblins pulled away from each other at Shusar’s reprimanding tone. He was half the size of the other two but somehow they always listened when he spoke. Shusar was older than most goblins in this tribe and he had already fathered two sons. Goblins with children were automatically respected. To be chosen as a potential mate for a female was the highest honor.

  His knife slid a slice of fish towards Ruric. “Go find your female, warrior. Leave us in peace.”

  “I don’t know where she disappeared to.” Ruric replied sarcastically. His fingers grabbed the fish though and slid it delicately between serrated teeth.

  “Where would you go if you wanted to be alone?” Shusar said quietly.

  Ruric froze, his eyes slanting to glare at the other goblin. “What do you know, old one?”

  “‘Old one’?” Shusar laughed as he dragged a claw down a scar that bisected his eye. “Perhaps ‘ugly one’, but I’m not old yet. I remember you sneaking away when you were young. Get going and you might catch her before she loses herself in the tunnels.”

  He wasn’t about to argue. The other goblin should have told him immediately when he saw her sneaking away. There were too many ways for Jane to hurt herself in these tunnels. And if she was going where he thought she was… Well the dangers of climbing down stone cliffs without decent light were too many to count.

  He left the cave as calmly as he could, though his blood was boiling. He wanted to run, to burst from the cave and throw himself towards her. He liked to have everything he needed to protect close. It was unnerving to know that he was more worried about her than his own people.

  As he dropped over the edge and sunk his claws into the stone, he was already formulating an argument. He knew very well that it would be an argument when he saw her. She would yell and he was going to have his say this time.